Oil Shale

A Final Gift to his Friends
In September 2008 the American Congress voted to overturn a two-year moratorium on the development of oil shale. Two months later, in November 2008, it was revealed that in its dying days, the Bush Administration had given the approval to develop oil shale deposits straddling almost two million acres of public lands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

Critics of oil shale development claimed the Bush Administration was fast-tracking a programme without public consultation that could devastate the environment whilst emitting vast amounts of greenhouse gases. At the same time the new rules would also waive royalties for oil companies under certain circumstances.

“The Bush administration is maintaining an unlawful position by amending these resource management plans without providing the public with an opportunity to have their decisions administratively appealed,” argues Melissa Thrailkill, a staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity.“We are considering all our options. That includes legal action in federal court.”

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